Iguazu- Paradise

I was in the jungle for the last couple days. I met a couple of American´s on the bus to Iguazu that are teachers in BA. As it turned out they were taking a vacation to the Iguazu falls with a bunch of the gringos residing in BA. It was a nice change of pace to meet and follow other people, I ended up hanging out with this group of 8 or 9 people for my two days in Puerto Iguazu. It was nice to converse in Spanish with gringos, because they pronounce thier words better and speak slower and in more simple terms. Therefore, I can understand almost everything that is said. I was amongst americans, germans, frenchies, and a few spainards...I have to say I enjoyed being in a big group of people for once. For one, when I walked around the falls, I went by myself, but I would run into them and they would be so happy to see me, I don´t know if that makes any sence, but it felt like I was at Cedar Point in high school, running into groups of people you know all day. However, I will say that it made me appreciate my alone time more, I am so used to being alone with my thoughts for a good portion of the day. When I was around everyone all the time, I forgot to write in my journal, and even forgot to buy post cards...but I also appreciated the enjoyment of being with friends. Humans are a herding type of species, we don´t typically like to be in isolation...

I talked alot with each person, and at dinner I talked about my PhD work. Everyone was very interested in my studies and wanted to hear details about my thesis, I´m not going to be pessimistic and think they were just trying to be nice, I think that they were truly interested. It was great, I have not talked about my work in a month. Everyone was excited about it and even impressed. I in turn got excited about it, and where it has been easy for me to feel humble about my successes, it has been more difficult to feel proud of what I have accomplished, and this night I did, I felt very proud!

I have been reading a lot, since I have spent so much time on the busses lately. I am almost done reading the Alchemist. I am really enjoying it. It explained that the intense suffering that may come along with following your dreams will pass more quickly than the constant suffering that apperars to be bearable living each day without reaching for your dreams, which that latter goes on for years and without realizing it eats your soul until we can no longer be free from it and the bitterness stays with us forever. It also talks about the guilt one feels when deciding to go on their personal journey. Here I´ll quote it, "The mere possibilty of getting what we want fills the soul of the oridinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get what they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. We forget about all the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured, all the things we had to give up in order to get this far". So it kinda took a burden off me to see this written down as I have had these feelings before. Okay enough about my growth, what you want to see are the falls...

On Friday I spent the entire day at the Iguazu National Park. It was breath-taking, memorizing, and thought provoking. There were hundreds of falls, and one very large fall, called Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s Throat). The drop sucked down all the water spewing up mist that allowed for the most beautiful rainbows to radiate, making you realize the reality of nature.

These falls have existed for years, well beyond my 26 years here. While the water moves continuosuly and rapidly it was now flowing coetaneously with me... I am not sure I can even do the falls justice by words nor can I desribe how I felt seeing them. I do have pictures, yay!!! Still, they neither do this dreamy world justice. All I can say is that it was loud, magnificent, powerful, and colorful...GOOOOO!!!

Saturday I spent the whole day on the bus and SundayI arrived to my next destination, I am in Salta!!!!! I could not be happier. After driving through the jungle and the arid desert, on a bus ride that I don´t care to tell you about or even want to remember, I have arrived to the beautiful mountains. The emotions that I felt after arrving to Ushuaia, and Puerto Natales came rushing back. I could not stop smiling, I could feel the difference, the energy here is positive. The people seem friendly, the city is not too big, and I am surrounded by lush green forests covering the mountains. Did I mention the heat and humidity in Puerto Iguazu?? Ohh, it was a sticky hot mess, like August 1st in Michigan, slightly miserable...but they call this paradise!!!

So now I met some locals and we went out to a festival on the streets and listened to classic "folk" Argentinian musi allllllll night!! Good times!! Fireworks, dancing, happy people singing thier favorite songs!! Okay kids I am out...

Today, I will look for adventure, and will be sure to report back to you all after it is all said and done...

Take it easy, miss you lots!!

Andrea